The following is a touching and inspiration sermon by Gary Huckaby.
May God bless,
Carl
my website -- http://www.nettally.com/saints/
my blog -- http://www.anniemayhem.com/cgi-bin/wordpress/
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Trees Of The Bible
by Gary Huckaby
This sermon was the last message that my dad got to hear his son preach
before taking off for heaven. It has been, and still is blessed of God in
reaching many souls for our Lord Jesus. It is my prayer that you will be
touched by God, to follow Him, or to come to Him for salvation.
Psalms 1: 3, says,"And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of
water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall
not
wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper."
I grew up in the country. We lived approximately three miles from the
nearest town which is a small town to this day. The population is around
2.500 in this small town even today. Being that I grew up away from the
city
folks, I had a lot of time to explore and learn about the woods, or forest
around our home. My grandfather owned a small farm of some 300 acres and
forest and swamp were a part of his land. So I had the opportunity to get
to
know about trees. Later just as I had turned 20 years of age, I went to
work
with a state survey party which worked quite often in the forest, plotting
right-a-way boundaries for road construction. I learned then a lot more
about trees that I was associated with in this line of work. One year my
brother and I made a living cutting and splitting hardwood to sell. This
too
taught me more about trees. In my children's early school years, I helped
them too learn about trees their leaves and their uses for mankind.
Trees are an important commodity for man. They are used in almost every
home
in some way. Many houses are built totally with wood. Desks, are built
primarily of wood in some form, paper that we use in our daily tasks are a
product that is made from wood. Furniture uses wood in their
constructions.
Wood comes from trees, and man has been blessed to know how to use it for
his benefit. Joseph, Jesus earthly step father was a Carpenter, and they
are
the profession that knows and uses wood in their profession. So trees play
an important part in the life of mankind in general.
Today I want to take a look at some of the trees in the Bible. Some I can
put a name to, others are left to speculation, nevertheless the Bible
speaks
of trees and their uses in many ways. So get your bible open and read
along
with me at some of the Bible instances in which trees are found.
Our first look at a tree and man is:
Man Behind A Tree
In Genesis 3:8, And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the
garden, in the cool of the day; and Adam and his wife hid themselves from
the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden."
For our first Bible picture of man and trees, we see Adam and his wife,
Eve,
hiding among the trees of the garden of Eden. They were hiding for a
reason,
they were not just playing hide and seek, they were hiding from God. They
had disobeyed God's command and now they were running from Him. So the
first
picture of a man and the trees, is a man hiding behind a tree, in Adam.
Today many hide behind a tree; sin always forces us to run, but to escape
the penalty for sin, no man can. Sins wages will always collect it's
reward.
Death! Mankind today is hiding from God behind the tree of sin.
Secondly we see the use of some trees and a man with;
Man In A Tree
Genesis 6:14, " Make thee an ark of Gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in
the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch."
The second Tree or Trees I would like for you to see is the trees which
made
an ark to save mankind from a flood of judgment. God said that mans
wickedness at this time in his history, was so evil; that the LORD
purposed
to destroy all of mankind, except there was one man; a man who walked with
God, his name was Noah. God put this man and his sons, his wife, and their
wives along with two of each animal, seven of the clean animals, and two
of
the unclean into an are that was made from trees. Gopher wood trees. So
the
second time we notice the trees in the Bible is when man was saved
floating
in a tree. Jesus is our ark of salvation, we are free from sin, because of
His sacrifice for us on the cross. In Christ we are in the ark of safety,
forever!
Our third look at a tree is when one of God's Prophets used it.
Man Under A Tree
1 Kings 19:4, "But he himself went a days journey into the wilderness, and
came and sat down under a juniper tree; and he requested for himself that
he
might die; and said. it is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life; for I
am
not better than my fathers."
Elijah, was a man of God. He was God's prophet sent to Israel, to show
forth
the only true God, for Israel had as they often did, succumb to idolatry.
They had forsaken The True God and started serving and worshipping false
gods. Elijah in the scene had just come from a great display of God's
power
to the unbelieving people on Mount Carmel. God answered Elijah's prayer
and
consumed the altar, the water around the altar and on the sacrifice. The
stones were also consumed, along with the sacrifice. Elijah prayer for God
to prove to these lost unbelieving souls, that He is the Great I Am!
After this contest was won by the Almighty, the wicked queen Jezebel had
sent God's man a message that she was going to kill him, as were her false
prophets were when they failed the test of the LORD God, and the false
gods.
His victory had turned to despair. The joy on the mountain top, had now
become the valley. So too are we much like this man of God. On the
mountain
at times, but in the valleys often. He was in such diaper, that he wanted
to
die. But you have never been at that point have you? Most all have at one
time or another, during our life time. We feel distanced from the Loving
Father, but always remember that for the believer He is always here. Don't
stay under the juniper tree, come out from under it, and go to work for
God.
One day at the judgment seat you will be glad that you did.
The fourth use I want us to look at is when a tree helped a man to see
Jesus.
Man Up A Tree
Luke 19:1-6, "And Jesus entered and passed through Jericho, And, behold,
there was a man named Zacchaeus, which was the chief among the publicans,
and he was rich, And he sought to see Jesus who he was; and could not for
the press, because he was little of stature, And he ran before, and
climbed
up into a sycamore tree to see him; for he was to pass that way, And when
Jesus came to the place, he looked up, and saw him and said unto him,
Zacchaeus, make haste, and come down; for today I must abide at thy house.
And he made haste, and came down, and received him joyfully."
In this story we see a man up a tree. Zacchaeus the chief of publicans. A
short man, so short that he went and climbed a sycamore tree, a difficult
tree for a grown man to climb. It took some physical effort to climb it,
but
he wanted to see this One of whom he had heard so much about. He had heard
of His miracles, His healing, and how He had cast out devils from those
possessed. He wanted to look at the One who was called the Messiah. He
wanted to meet Him so much that he was willing to climb to see Him. Are
you
willing to climb a tree to see Jesus? Are you willing to repent of your
sins, that is turn from them? Are you willing to publicly confess that
Christ is Lord, and Saviour? Will you come to Him? Zacchaeus did, and
Jesus
went to his home, and spent some time with him. He will come to you, if
you
will just ask Him to.
Our last look at the use of a tree is when it symbolized our means of
salvation from sin.
Man On A Tree
Acts 5:30, "The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and
hanged
on a tree."
The last tree we see from this message, is a man on a tree. The cross was
a
tree, hewn and shaped by mans hands to be the instrument of death, to the
crucified. Jesus the only human who knew no sin, became sin for us. He
took
our place on the cross. He took our sins and paid for them in full. He
made
the way to God for mankind. He is the bridge that spans the great gulf
between us and the Almighty God. Jesus was God's perfect sacrifice, given
to
mankind to redeem us from a curse of sin and death, separation forever
from
God.
Jesus is a living Saviour, though He once had hung on a tree. Do you know
Him as your Lord and Saviour today? If you do, are you telling others
about
Him? If you do not know Him, confess Him right now, pray this prayer with
me
from your heart; Lord Jesus, come into my heart and life. I repent of my
sins; I believe you died on the cross for me, I believe you rose from the
dead to save me from my sins, I put my total life in your hands, now, and
forever. In the Name Of Jesus Christ, Amen!
If you have made a decision to trust Christ we would love to hear from
you.
We will send you some material to help you get started in your new life in
Christ.
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